The fall of a king
by Dramatic lover
Summary: It's been three years since the night howlers case was solved. But about nine months ago Nick Wilde had gone missing. Judy Hopps is currently investigating a recent rumor from the criminal underground about a certain "show" once there she'll find that this show is a lot more interesting than she first thought.
1. Chapter 1

Judy sat down to see if the rumor about this place was correct. The rumor the ZPD had gotten was one from one of there undercover agents in the criminal underground. The rumor in question said was that there was a big match happening here and that they should have there best to scope it out, and what a surprise it was her. She looked around the room, predators and pray alike all sat around the circular room which was made in the style of those Roman colosseum the main difference is that this one was indoors. As she looked around she noticed that most animals in the large room were exchanging money with other animals.

"bets? Just what kind of show is this?" She wondered. That was when she noticed the central area it was lower than the place where the audience sat and in it were... "claw marks...and... blood stains?"

If this were an ordinary undercover assignment she would have updated the nearby ZPD forces, but Bogo didn't want to risk this so he had ordered radio silence.

The show was about to start she could tell because everyone quieted almost in /It wasn't until the animals covered in armor and wielding big melee weapons walked in to the central area that she realized this "show" was going to be a little different.

The Fox, the stupid WORTHLESS Fox stalked around the edge of the central area. His prey were a variety today. There was a cougar, a boar, a lion, a ram, and a wolf.

"This is going to be interesting" the Fox thought to himself.

If it weren't for the muzzle currently around his face he would be licking his maws exited to the feast to come. But he'd been to slow to kill in the last game so they punished him by denying him his feast, that and muzzling him, he still cursed the day they realized that a muzzle took him next to breaking. But no matter, he could still redeem himself by slaughtering these animals, and maybe then they'll take it off. The thought alone made him just wanna rush out there and begin the slaughter, but if he did he'd be the one that was slaughtered.

He continued to encircle his prey, looking for a good opening to strike but to also last when the fight started. On his second pass he saw one with the lion, that's good take out the strongest opponent first then just mop up the rest. It was a good thing that they couldn't see him, he was on the outer edge of the central area the walls had enough holes in them for good peepholes.

"Just gotta wait till he turns his back again" he thought while twirling his two long knifes in his paws.

Once the lion had his back turned he blessed these walls for being so weak, because once his back was turned the charged, smashing the the wall with ease barley even slowing. Of course everyone spun to see what the noise was, but before they could do anything the fox's knifes were already in the air and before they could react his two knifes were lodged in the lions and cougars throats. Before their now lifeless corpses could hit the floor the Fox leaped over the boar who was trying to take a swing at him with his sword.

The Fox grabbed both knifes and pulled them free and quickly turned to face the others, with a defensive yet highly aggressive fighting stance. The other animals didn't know that of course these are just regular people none of them went to train with the police. The Fox shoved that thought aside, that wasn't true that was just a fantasy, but before he could banish the thought completely the last thing remembered from that fantasy was of a particular person... a particular... bunny. No that can't be right a Fox can't have be friends with a bunny because... well they just can't, especially THIS Fox.

The fantasy confused the Fox for every time he got it he immediately pushed it away every time, but every time he does before it's gone he always thinks of that bunny, it happens so often now that he's been able to memorize every detail about her. Taller than most bunnies, always standing straight, light Greg fur, even whiter fur around the mouth, tall rather adorable ears that twitched every time she hears something unexpected, feet that thumped the ground then agitated, the list goes on. But he couldn't focus on that right now, he still has 3 dangerous opponent in front of him.

He starred them down looking at them each in turn. When his gaze fell upon them they shuffled nervously, they knew who he was. Even though he had a muzzle on him currently he could still where his mask which was good he'd grown fond of the mask hiding his face. As he glanced at the boar he noticed that he'd thrown away his sword instead trading it for the twin battle axes the lion was gonna use. He held his ground as they all advanced on him, making a triangle, with him at its center. His gaze was focused on the wolf for he had a halberd a very good spear the weapon with the longest range here.

Thankfully the crowd was silent, holding there breath, that was a good thing for if they weren't he wouldn't have been able to here the ram coming up behind him. He glanced over seeing that he was swinging a flail towards his middle. He immediately took one step away from the ram and then leaped forward, rolling under the swing. As he passed by he brought one of his knifes to cut the place behind the knee the spot where the thigh and leg met. This caused the ram to cry out in pain and stumble to the ground. If the boar wasn't instantly over the rams injured body the Fox would've moved in for a killing blow. So instead he just carefully made his way around the edge of the arena, daggers in a ready position in front of his face. The boar was looking after the injured ram, with the wolf watching the fox. The ram said something to the wolf and the wolf looked at the ram for a second and the Fox saw his opening, he rushed the group.

By the time the wolf had re-focused his attention on him the fox was already under the spear grabbing the shaft and pulling the wolf towards him. With no other weapons nearby the wolf held on, much to the crowds pleasure. For once the wolf got close the fox made a pretend swing towards the wolf's head. The wolf of course ducked having the swing miss. He did not however notice his other dagger coming in an upward motion towards his face. Once he saw the second dagger he tried to move away in desperation, too late. Before he had time to react the Fox's dagger took him Under the chin and coming out the top of his jaw and spewing blood. Instead of pulling the dagger out from where it had come he pulled it towards himself cutting the muzzle in half. With the muzzle in half, blood poured from the now pooling mess that once was a living breathing life form. With this the crowd roared in approval, some screaming for more blood. The Fox was happy to oblige the bloodthirsty crowd for he made his way slowly to the terrified boar and ram.

Judy watched in horror as the armored figure finally killed the boar afther letting him suffer for a good 2 minutes. It wasn't the death and blood and guts that terrified her, it was the fact that she thought that she KNEW that figure in armour thought she'd seen him KNOWN him somewhere before. She just could not put her finger on who this person reminded her of. The figure was currently raising the boars head for everyone to see. Behind him the door opened, silently and a big hulking figure with a single large horn walked out.

"A RHINO?! She screamed in her head "he can't take on a rhino no matter how skilled he is."

She sat there confused as can be, looking from the rhino to the armored figure. The arena was dead silent waiting to see who would make the first move. The figure just stood there watching the newcomer, he squared his shoulders and even with the distance she could hear the snapping of them. Along with moving his shoulders he raised his head back popping his neck as well, and it must have been the angle because Judy was able to see the shade of both his fur and his eyes. When she first figured out what this "show" was she had wished that she picked a spot more in the back, but now she was glad about the front row seat. For at that moment she didn't care what she looked like even if she blew her cover, for when she saw his eyes her heart nearly stopped as it went to her throat. They were green, and his fur was red, just like...

"Nick." She said softly, so softly that even she could barely hear herself.

She didn't believe it, any animal can have red fur. But what were the chances of an animal being the same height as Nick, same color fur as Nick, and having green eyes. Practically non existent. So that leads her to the only reasonable conclusion the armored figure in front of her, the one she's been told has killed hundreds of people most without remorse or a second thought and killed them in the most brutal of ways possible. This man, was Nick Wilde, the man that she thought she secretly loved(but it turns out everyone at the precinct knows). But she was getting ahead of herself she couldn't be certain until she saw the rest of him. Her attention was drawn back to the center when the rhino took a step towards the person she thought was Nick.

The Fox, waited patiently as the giant made his way towards him slowly. He was concerned, he fought rhinos before killed a couple but it seems that this one was specialised to fight him. Armor shown all across his body no helmet though, for he his skull alone was a helmet. He did however have armor covering his entire neck, they knew that the Fox preferred to go for the neck. Other than bits and pieces of armor on the vital areas on its arms and legs and chest there was no other armor on the giant. He also wielded no weapon for he was a rhino he himself was a weapon. The Fox held his ground waiting for where the rhino would strike first.

The rhino charged head first at the Fox it's giant horn lowering in hopes to impale. The Fox just stood there not moving daggers held down to his side's, waiting. When the beast was half way across the arena the Fox charged, straight at the rhinos horn. Many of the watchers cried out at seeing a Fox charge a rhino full on most saying he's got a death wish, others were to entranced by the act to do anything. When the rhino was just a few feet away the Fox jumped, landing on the rhinos horn and when the rhino felt something on his horn he heaved upward. The Fox anticipated this leaping upwards at the same time the rhino did. This caused him to soar, he easily reaching halfway to the arenas caged ceiling he looked down, the rhino was looking about him searching. As soon as he looked up however the Fox was upon him daggers held aloft.

With his opponent being one of the strongest species alive he couldn't go for a stab at the head for the skull was too thick. Nor could he go for his preferred spot the neck, for a good stab there is a quick and guaranteed kill. So out of the entire rhinos head where was the best place for a good incapacitating stab? The eyes, of course. The Fox plummeted to the the rhinos head landing with a grunt and before the rhino could reach up and grab him the Fox plunged one dagger in the rhinos left eye, giving it a good couple of twists before pulling the weapon out with a spurt of blood and guts. As the rhino lowered himself to the ground in pain raising his hands to his now useless eye the Fox moved to the other one and repeated the process. This was not a killing blow but dam was it close to it, and because he could not attack him the Fox had an automatic victory. He survived another day. When he landed on the ground the rhino was still howling in pain but other than him the room was silent. The Fox scanned the crowd attempting to look at each and every person but he failed when he sighted a certain figure in the front row. A bunny, normally he would just move on nothing big here but there was a problem about this

"She looks the one from my fantasy" he thought though he had a hard time looking at her because of his mask. So he sheathed his daggers and brought his hands up to his chin where the straps for his mask were. Once done he was about to remove his mask.

Judy sat there filled with nervousness, terror, awe, and longing as the armored figure slowly undid the straps to his mask. He was about to take it off when a call was raised, a call stating that the match was over. The Fox hearing the call and knowing what would happen if he didn't obey it immediately, and with that he re-tied his straps and walked towards the doors. The bunny in a daze and not wanting to blow her cover followed the crowd out from there she went to her car, and another lonely night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I know this is only the second chapter but this ones a torture one so just a warning have fun**

The fox walked along the corridor, four cheetahs followed at a distance. They only followed to make sure the fox went to his intended destination. The fox didn't think about the bunny she was already forgotten from his mind, instead he was preparing for what was to come. He walked down the dirty hallway empty, he'd given up his knives once exiting the arena. The hallway smelled like a hippo had sex with a pig and neither had bathed in months. Other than the smell the hallway was relatively clear, unless you counted the ceiling since most animals who worked the underground didn't reach that height, so it was covered with cobwebs and dead bugs.

Once he reached the door that was his destination and opened it his cheetah guards walked over, and became actual guards. Inside the room the fox went to the only chair available, which was in the center. Once sat he glanced about himself, noting the buckets with towels near them, the knives, the pokers, the fire behind him heating the multiple metal prods inside the fire. The torture room, he should know he's been here... He couldn't quite remember how many times he'd been there. A dozen? Two? He couldn't recall, and he was happy about that.

He waited patiently,he really couldn't do anything else. Until his mind started to drift against his own will. The fantasy of him being a police officer, having a family, having friends and having... Wait.

"What?" The fox thought in confusion.

When the part when the bunny usually comes into focus it wasn't the same image. It was the bunny from his last match.

"That makes no sense" he thought "there not the same people, the one from my fantasy is to prideful to do something like this."

And yet...

He could remember now, seeing her out of the corner of his eye every now and then. Every time, she watched him no one else. When he had looked at her from what he could tell at the time she was terrified, but he remembers looking into her eyes and seeing... Hope? That's odd, why would she hope about seeing his face? His train of thought on the matter was de-railed and thrown off the tracks as the door opened.

Two wolves walked in, one was grey but that could mean anything for a wolf. The other was brownish red, the grey one had red eyes while the brown one had grey eyes. The fox would've laughed at the odd pairing another day, but he hasn't laughed in a long time.

"So how's our everyday fox been lately?" The brown one asked.

The fox didn't say anything, just like laughing the only thing he used his vocal cords for were for screaming.

"Nothing as usual, pity" the brown one continued "what should we do to him this time Hawkins?" The brown one said, moving over to the table that held the knives.

"I think I got something special for him today Jimmy" the grey one, Hawkins said.

"Oh? And what would that be?" Jimmy said holding up one of the knives.

"Well for one" Hawkins said walking over to Jimmy "knives won't be the focal point" he said taking jimmies arm that held the knife and setting it down. before jimmy could protest Hawkins continued.

"But don't worry, they'll play a big part this time" Hawkins smiled while he said this looking towards the fox, who just sat there staring straight ahead.

"Alright..." Jimmy said slowly, looking confused. He wasn't the smartest, all he wanted to do when "entertaining" guests is use knives.

"Splendid!" Hawkins said clapping his paws together twice.

The door opened at the sound and jimmy and the fox looked to the newcomers. They were the cheetah guards two of them, one was holding what appeared to be a car battery and the other was holding a good four metal rods.

"Put the rods in the fire and put the battery next to the water please." Hawkins gestured to the two predators. They did so and once done they left the room with saying a word.

"Now" Hawkins said very slowly, smiling a satanic like smile while looking towards jimmy "now is when the fun begins."

They began their work.

Just like Hawkins said they used knives first. They used almost every single knife on the counter, slicing the fox's skin creating gashes along every part of his body. Some were along his more private areas, but most were along his arms and legs and his chest. They were carful around the chest though, even though their task was to cause him pain the were told not to kill the fox but there could always be... 'Accidents'. Eventually they got bored and moved on to the water. They put a rag over the foxes face and poured water over it for what felt like an eternity to the young fox. It wasn't the suffocation that made this experience nearly unbearable it was the fact that unlike before this water stung when they reached his cuts like it was alcohol. When they finialy pulled away the two were grinning .

"Ya like that 'your highness'?" Jimmy asked moving off to get another full bucket. "It's salt water, you being a fox and all you probably didn't know that your kind usually don't know much." He finished as he reached the buckets at the other end of the room. When he returned he was still smiling.

Eventually Like with the knives they got bored. So they moved on to the next instrument of pain the had the rods. At this point the metal rods that had been in the fire pit this whole time were white hot as they picked them up, using metal prongs, and placed them in water. A loud hissing sound escaped once the rods touched what was left of the water. They waited for the rods to cool enough so they won't kill him within seconds. While they waited though they decided to beat him with fist and words. Punch after punch came at the fox and he couldn't do anything being tied to the table and all by a couple of handcuffs. They beat him one at a time, one doing the physical damage while the other stood to the side giving the mental damage.

Some things they said were "Can't believe they call you "the King" HA what a pathetic piece of flesh you are." Or "it doesn't surprise me at all that your kind act so high and mighty, but when pressed even a little they show what they really are fox's. Worthless, weak,barely deserving to live". Some of the more hurtful ones were the ones where they called him "just another fox, nothing special here" one time they got into a little argument about useful fox's were. They ended it deciding that most foxes were useful for a few things, like lying, cheating, not keeping a secret, being untrustworthy, the list goes on they ended that argument saying.

"Hey Hawkins" jimmy said leaning against the wall watching as the wolf in question focused his attack to the fox's side.

At this point they had completely taken off the fox's armor to their beating could be more successful all except for the muzzle of course, he tried not to think about that part.

"Yes... Jimmy?" Hawkins said in between punches now focusing on the fox's legs and arms.

"You know how the crowd stupidly calls this husk 'the King' right?" He said smiling, thinking about what he was gonna say next.

"Yeah... What about it?" Hawkins replied halting his assault as he gazed at his friend in confusion. He than smiled a devilish smile and said.

"You got a better one? One that emphasizes who and WHAT he is?"

"I got a couple. How about 'the king of rags' or 'the king of nothing'" jimmy smiled while saying those things. The fox didn't notice he was having trouble staying conscious at the moment.

"Those are a couple of good ones" the jimmies companion stated "but how about-" they went on coming up with new titles for the fox to use in the arena.

Eventually they realized that they left the metal rods in the water for to long and were not useless for what they intended to do with them. It turns out they didn't have enough time to cool another batch of rods.

"Looks like I survived another" the fox thought, his mind barely able to convey the thought. He thought he was done, but he'd forgotten about one thing.

The car battery.

He stared at the two wolfs in silence a blank expression on his face. At this point they have striped him bare all except the muzzle. They slowly approached the fox, one holding the battery while the other had set up two metal pryers and was clashing them together experimentally. When they clanged together sparks flew. The fox also noticed that the one holding the battery was also carrying in his other hand... A bucket of water. The last one.

"Perhaps I won't survive the night after all" the fox thought. At this point he was holding strongly to his fantasy selfs motto: never let them see that they get to you. Outward he was .nothing when it came to emotion. But inwardly... He was terrified. Just as the two reached the fox he thought again that he probably won't survive this night.

As he thought about it, he began to think that that wasn't such a bad thing after all.

 **authors note: man was this one a pain (pun intended) this'll be only one of these I'm gonna have I swear. Also it might be a while till ch.3 ya know life stuff. Hoped you enjoyed see you in ch.3!**


	3. Chapter 3

Judy Laverne Hopps sighed as she got her assignment for the day. Desk duty, again. The worst part was that she knew full well why the chief had been doing this to her for the past two weeks. It was all because of the armored figure and her report of him. Ever since the morning after the show where she'd given her report of the experience chief Bogo had insisted that she keep to her desk until they had more information.

She couldn't fault those tactics, especially when she told Bogo about how she thought the figure was Nick. She was pretty sure that if she didn't mention that part she would've been in some serious trouble for withholding information, and would not have had desk duty for the past two weeks. She sighed, again heavier this time, as she sat down at her desk and looked to her right at the empty desk there. It should have been Nicks but was currently taken by a male coyote named Brian. She could still see nick in that chair, a look of anger and determination constantly on his face as he looked from his computer screen to the pile of paper that seemed endless at times. She smiled, remembering the good times of the past three years with the fox.

It started when she first saw him, still a meter maid even though she proved that she can handle herself when chasing a criminal. She saw him standing across the street just about to go into an ice cream shop for bigger mammals - mainly elephants. She was actually grateful for her prejudice towards foxes at the time, because if she hadn't followed him in she probably would've never have hustled him into helping her solve the night howler case and eventually become the first fox to become a police officer. More importantly though her closest friend.

Then again, if it wasn't for her Nick wouldn't be missing in the first place. Hesitantly, she thought back to that awful night. It all started a couple days before the eventful night, when her mother had called her saying something along the lines of "a bunny your age should not be single, and I know that you're either too busy or you don't want to deal with this type of stuff so I've arranged a little date for you. It's in a couple of days." After that exchange Judy was kind of forced into an arranged date with a bunny her mother thought would be a good fit for her. Unsurprisingly to Judy the date was a complete disaster. To start it off the guy, a bunny just slightly taller than Judy with dark grey fur and blue eyes named Derek, probably had the worst manners she'd ever seen. Pulling up in a rundown dirty truck and ordering her to get in. She should have gone back inside, but against her better judgement she got into the truck. On the way to their dinner he played loud rock music which Judy was not a fan of. Apart from that his truck stank like an unwashed men's locker room. Once they had gotten to the place where they'd be eating she had been disgusted to find that is was just a regular bar for smaller animals.

The food there was probably the worst she'd ever had. It was stale, grimy, and what she ordered had way too many spices. To top it all of the room was much too rowdy, and so was Derek. Not only did he have no manners, chewing with his mouth open, talking while his mouth was full. He payed no attention to Judy what so ever, not that she minded since she was in her phone practically the moment they got their food.

She remembered surfing furbook about half way through their dinner when she got a text from Nick that read: "hey carrots how's the date going? You think you'll get lucky? ;P"

Judy shook her head replying to her friends teasing comment: "this guy's definitely not getting lucky tonight not with me at least he's a complete asshole."

After those first few messages the conversation strayed from how her current date was going to Nick's various dates. At the very end of their conversation Judy asked Nick if he could pick her up after her and Derek were done at the local park. He agreed, and with that Judy asked Derek if they could go to the park right now. It actually took some persuasion on her part to get him to go. Once the tab was paid he loudly said goodbye to his friends.

Once at the park they did basically the only thing you can do there at night. Judy walked about, enjoying the scenery of the trees and the plants. It all reminded her of her old home in the borrows. Derek on the other hand was completely absorbed with his phone. That had angered Judy quite a great deal. It was something Nick did quite often but that's because they've never gone on a date, if Nick were here...

Judy remembered when she first started seeing Nick as possibly something more than a friend. What a classic case of bad timing. She tried to make small talk with Derek but he would have none of it, he just said a couple of words in response and sometimes didn't even respond. When she saw the parking lot where Nick was supposed to pick her up she turned to Derek and said goodbye, not meaning a single word of what she said for he deserved none. he then looked up from his phone and looked at her confused. What proceeded was probably the most repulsive thing Judy had ever witnessed.

Apparently when her mother had "arranged a date" for Judy, she had apparently gotten her an account on one of those fuck buddy sites. So this piece of shit rabbit had thought Judy's real intention was to have a sexual relationship with him. Not in a million years. Before she had left to go to Nick who was no doubt waiting for her, she slapped the piece of shit across the face as a hard as she could and stormed off. Leaving him uttering curse after curse after her.

When she had gotten to the parking lot Nick was not there. There were a few cars in the lot for the park was never completely empty, but she could not find Nicks anywhere. There was a car that looked very similar to Nicks, it was the same model at least. The car in question was a '63 Lincoln continental, sleek black and with bright red highlights. Practically exactly like Nicks, but Nick always made sure his car looked spotless and pristine, unlike this one. It looked like someone just robbed the car. From what she saw as she had passed by, the interior was in worse shape than the exterior. Almost everything was ripped and torn apart, things were scattered across the whole thing. It reminded her of Mr. Otterton's limo back during the night howler case

She stood in that lot for what seemed like an hour, texting and calling Nick the entire time. this was not like him. Eventually she made her way to the apartment the two of them shared, since a cop's salary wasn't enough to pay for a place like this. It was just a few blocks from their precinct, had two bedrooms and bathrooms. The kitchen was the perfect size for the two of them, even if Nick had to hunch down every now and then some specific task. They could've gotten a better apartment or better furniture but Judy had yet to pry out where exactly Nick was keeping his money. One does not go and spend $1.4 million that quick even if they're a fox. Reaching their apartment she'd expected to see Nicks car in his little bunker of a garage where he keeps his car but it wasn't there.

"Maybe Finnick needed help with something really quick," She thought aloud. She immediately knew that wasn't the case he would've told her but it was all she could come up with at the time. When she got inside the apartment she couldn't find him anywhere, and that whole time she was trying to reach him with everything she could think of, but nothing worked. At the end of the night she decided that he must've gotten caught up with Finnick about something and his phone must've died. Before she had gone to sleep however she remembered that Nick always had his phone at full power before he went anywhere.

Before she could continue the memory thought she was snapped back to the present with someone shaking her shoulder.

"Hey!" A familiar masculine voice said "precinct one to officer Hopps! Hello?!" It was Brian, the coyote was just a few inches taller than Nick. His fur was a tannish yellow and his eyes were a bright blue.

"Huh, what?" she stammered, the memories still crystal clear in her mind.

"Have you been daydreaming this entire time?" He asked incredulously.

She looked at the clock in the bottom right corner of her computer. It'd been a good 2 hours since the morning briefing. "Looks like I have," Judy said slowly not knowing what else to say.

"Well then you'd better get to work or else Bogo's goanna go mental on us again."

us...

She tried and failed to keep Nick out of her mind as the day went by. Filing report after report of updates, personnel files, case files etc. when she had about two hours left in her shift she got a call from the chief to come to his office. Once there she was told to have a seat.

"I've got good news for you Hopps," Chief Bogo said while shuffling a stack of papers.

"What would that be sir?" Judy asked not really interested, she had failed in her attempt to keep Nick out of her mind most of the day. So she had gotten little work done.

"You've been a part of an interrogation before, correct?" Bogo asked still shuffling around a few more stacks of reports. "No? Yes? Don't care. Because you're goanna be a part of this one." He finished standing and walking to the door. Judy had no choice but to get up and follow Bogo as he started to head to the interrogation room.

"May I ask sir but why me? I don't think I can scare information out of someone like Mchorn or Fangmeyer," she stated as they passed Clawhouser the overweight cheetah that ran the front desk. She was obviously confused about the whole set up, an interrogation is meant to frighten the one being instigated to talk about matters they'd rather not talk about. What does that mean sometimes? Fear. To get some people to talk you got to use fear tactics to get them to talk which means big animals like Mchorn or Francie, the two biggest animals in the 1st precinct. So why then did Bogo pick her? Bunnies weren't known for their intimidating look.

"oh trust me Hopps I couldn't think of a better animal for this interrogation" he said with a small smile on his lips. "To get you a little more excited about this" he continued "we believe the one being questioned is working for the organization that took Wilde."

That got her attention. Since Nick was taken they'd gotten nothing but rumors and offhand comments on the people who took him. Those and the video. They have had nothing else for almost a year, so this is the first real break they've had.

This news had gotten Judy out of her depressed stupor. "A-are you sure?!" She said quickly. She knew she shouldn't get her hopes too high up as this guy could be a false lead but, she couldn't help herself. She should ask how they found the guy but at the moment she didn't care. Once reaching the interrogation room she looked through the window at the soon to be questioned animal.

First thing Judy noticed about him was his attire. He looked like a beggar from the Middle Ages. They were pretty much rags, for someone to be part of a crime syndicate she expected one of their members to be a little more well-dressed. Beneath his attire was a male goat in his 40's, looking pretty frantic. She had to hold onto the window ledge to keep from running in and demanding he tell her where his boss was keeping Nick.

"Listen Hopps I know all you want to do right now is to beat the information out of him but I'm pretty sure that's not gonna work. We need to take this slowly, I'm gonna have you just sit to the side while I do most of the talking okay? just sit there and stare at him and make him feel uncomfortable." With that he opened the door and walked in.

Max was terrified. He'd never been in a police station before and he'd never intended to be in a police station. But here he was in what was no doubt an interrogation room. For about the thirtieth time since being snagged by the cops he cursed Pherb, he was supposed to have been watching the area. Damn wolves, can't trust anyone but your own species. He went on rambling like this in his mind for what only seemed like a few minutes.

There was very loud and distinguished cough in front of him. This pulled him out of his mental ramble and he looked up to see a hulking brute of a buffalo and beside him was a rather cute little bunny. The bunny just sat off to the side while the buffalo was holding a stack of papers in his hands.

"Mister..." The buffalo started, he had to rearrange his spectacles. "Max. Max Hornigold age:43, species: goat, fur color: tannish yellow..."

The buffalo kept on listing more and more things about Max's life. Like how he had gotten into numerous fights in higher school, how he never actually finished high school and so on. It got to the point to where max was starting to get infuriated. His body started to shake and vibrate from the force of his anger.

"Alright" he finally said still shaking from anger, but the buffalo didn't stop he just kept on naming the things on his list. "Alright!" He repeated a bit louder than he intended but it had the desired effect. The buffalo stopped looking at his paper and looked up with an eyebrow raised. "Yes, that's me I'm Max Hornigold."

"splendid." he said putting the story of apparently his entire life in a folder. "We have much to talk about, and I suggest you answer correctly and truthfully or else you'll spend the rest of your life in prison." He finished and the interrogation began.

Forty five minutes later Bogo had started asking max about who this "King" was. Once the king was mentioned max started to draw in on himself he started to look nervous. He started as how this "King" was some kind of unstoppable force, an animal half the size of a wolf but the strength of a rhino and the wits of a fox. Bogo continued with some other questions regarding this mystery figure but didn't go for the question Judy wanted answered more than anything. Where was Nick. Obviously not this "King" for max said that he has taken down rhinos before, Nick couldn't do that he was just a fox after all.

To keep herself from going crazy and leaping over the table to demand her answers she pulled out her phone. Once turned on she was greeted with an old picture of her and Nick. She sighed softly holding up her phone for a better look. Doing so gave max a good look at the picture as well and his eyes nearly bulged out is his sockets and his mouth hung open in shock.

"Y-Y-you..." He stammered trying to say something. Judy didn't notice up until he yelled.

"YOU KNOW HIM?!" He spat at Judy.

Judy froze and looked at max lowering her phone. "Know who? All I was doing was looking at a picture of me and..." Her mind trailed off as she connected the dots. She then slowly looked up and stared max in the eyes with a look of utter death on her face. "I know who now?" She said slowly not breaking eye contact.

"Y-Y-Y-you know the king... How?!" He stammered out both shock, fear and confusion all crossed his face in a matter of seconds.

"Who are you talking about?" Judy said in a somewhat calming tone. She wanted to be sure that her suspicion was correct and if it was... Well then she'll just figure that out if it...

"your phone!" Max gestures towards Judy's pocket where she had put her phone. "Let me see your phone I must make sure!" He was getting frantic eyes wide, body twitching all over mouth in an increasing frown.

Judy looked at Bogo who just shrugged and nodded giving her the go ahead. She then hesitantly reached into her pocket, pulled out her phone and handed it to max. He snatched it like it was a cricket burger and he'd been starving for days. He looked at the phone in confusion for a second, as if he'd never handled a icarrot phone before. Then he pushed the button at the bottom activating the phone reveling the two figures on the screen. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open slightly as he stared at the phone screen.

"It's him." He whispered softly. "It really is him" he continued his voice shaking slightly. "I must ask again." He continued "how do you know him?" He directed at Judy.

"Know who? The fox?" She asked still not understanding him.

"Yes! How do you know the king?!"

Judy's face was of pure shock. Max had described this "king" earlier and it was that of the armored figure she saw at that "show" two weeks ago and if that was Nick... Judy's breathing started to get faster and faster, the only thing going faster at the moment was her mind trying to process all of the questions that now flooded her mind.

Was Nick alright? Was he hurt? How long has he been called King? All these and more flooded her mind as she tried to process what max had just said, not even realizing that she was outside the interrogation room with Bogo trying to speak to her.

"Hopps? HOPPS! Snap out of it!" She tried to stop her trembling body but it wouldn't listen.

She was so close to him so close and she failed. She failed horribly, how much does he hate me now? She knew he saw her; she looked directly into his eyes for cheezits sake. She was pulled out of her useless state by a small splash of cold water. She shook her head, trying to clear out all the thought and memories from her head.

"You with me now Hopps?" Bogo asked throwing the small Styrofoam cup away in the garbage.

"Yeah" she said slowly her head still spinning.

"Listen to me Hopps, I know you're going through a lot right now but I need you to focus."

"oookaay" she said trying to focus on Bogo's words.

"Like I said, I know you're going through a lot right now but I need you to listen to me. Wilde is going to be absolutely fine I promise you. We will find him I can guarantee that but what I want you to do is go home." He stated in a stern voice, a voice conveying that he would take any back talk that he was expecting to be obeyed.

Judy had tried to argue with Bogo when he used that tone of voice and every time it had failed as soon as she opened her mouth to protest. So instead she just looked down to the ground and nodded, unable to do anything else.

"I also want you to take the day off tomorrow."

Judy whipped her head up rage starting to build inside her. A look of determination spreading on her face.

"Before you can protest." He continued "I'm only doing this because if you were to come in tomorrow you'd be an emotional wreck. You'd practically be unable to work, and I plan on having you be my head officer on this." With that he made his way back to the interrogation room. Before going in however he grabbed the side of the door frame and said. "We'll find him Hopps, if that means putting every officer from here all the way out to the country towns on search for him I will do it. We WILL find him." He walked inside.

Judy quickly went back to her desk to collect her things. Brian was there, and asked how it went. She didn't answer. She didn't trust her voice right then, especially not in front of a co-worker. She went as fast as she could while still walking to her car outside, but to do that she had to get past the one other person besides Nick that knew her better than most of her family: Clawhowser.

Thankfully the cheetah was currently busy with a family of pigs asking about their son whom was "falsely imprisoned". As she walked by he saw her and waved with a face splitting smile on his face as always. She tried to do the same but her heart wasn't up for the lie, so he kept on going noting the worried look in her friends face.

Judy got to her car and to the apartment she and Nick had shared with only having shed a few tears. She got more worried looks from the people in the lobby, but she paid them no mind as she quickly made her way to the elevator. The best things about this new apartment were that she didn't have her neighbors constantly yelling at each other and it had a great view of the city. The main window in the living room overlooked Sahara square market, the placement of the shops reminding her of Roman soldiers in formation.

Once on her floor she made her way to her door and made her way inside as quickly as possible. Door closed, she turned on the lights and gazed upon the apartment that she and Nick had once shared. Memories started to flood her mind again but she suppressed them, for now. She was getting better at controlling herself, but tears still came easily sometimes. She made her way to her bedroom and tried to not look at the door across from her own. Once inside she began to undress from her police uniform into some pajamas. Despite the temptation to go to bed immediately, Judy forced herself to the kitchen to eat some dinner.

After she ate she quickly got ready for bed. She moved more quickly than she should though for she kept on bumping into things, causing them to spill onto the floor. she didn't care, she just needed to get to bed before the coldness settled in.

On the outside, she was perfectly fine but inside... It had started the first night that Nick had gone missing. There were no clues as to where he went, and she was certain that he'd be back at some point, up until they discovered the video. It was the recording from the parks surveillance cameras and she was glad that she saw it but at the same time she wished she'd never seen it.

The video was no more than ten minutes, and started with the grainy image of Nick's car pulling into the lot, parking and Nick getting out of his car and standing by it. almost as soon as he'd gotten comfortable leaning against his car, a black, unmarked van pulled up right next to Nick. Nick didn't notice, too busy typing away at whatever was on his phone. Nick didn't notice the van pulling up until it was right in front of him. The van hadn't even pulled to a complete halt when the side door flew open revealing a white tiger wearing a ski mask. Before Nick could react, the tiger had shoulder-charged him straight into the windshield of Nick's car, completely shattering the glass. Without wasting a second, the tiger reached in and grabbed Nick by his ankle and pulled him out, dragging him through the destroyed windshield. Once his head was out, the tiger grabbed him by the throat with one paw, grabbed the back of his head with the other, turned him around and smashed his face against the door. Pulling back, the tiger threw Nick face first into the side of the van and Nick fell into an unconscious heap. Shortly after Nick hit the ground, the tiger turned and began ransacking Nick's car, breaking windows, tearing at the seats and stealing anything that had some value. Meanwhile two more figures exited the van, a leopard and a wolf, whom were also wearing masks. The leopard was the first to reach Nick and when he saw the fox's condition, he sighed and put his face in one paw.

Despite the less than stellar quality of the soundless recording, it was easy to identify the leopard as the leader of the group from the way he strode to the tiger and jabbed a finger into the tiger's chest. He pointed at Nick then at the still open van door then moved to a nearby tree. The tiger sighed and carried Nick's broken body inside. The wolf then went back around and got into the driver's seat of the van. Once the side door shut closed with Nick inside, the leopard came back from his perch on the tree, he had been keeping watch Judy guessed. Once all passengers were inside, they drove off into the darkness. No more than five minutes later Judy's form strolled up and passed right by Nick's car.

There had been a heavy silence in the room as Judy processed what she'd seen. "idiot," she whispered, putting her head in her shaking paws. "Fucking stupid, dumb fox," she sobbed into her paws, not noticing the sympathetic looks of the other officers as they left.

Judy lay there, trying to go to sleep, all the while feeling a sharp, bitter coldness within her heart. She had been too late. The cold feeling, she had felt it ever since the night Nick went missing. She knew what it was: it was a hole. A hole that was once filled with everything Nick Wilde. Once he was gone, the coldness had seeped in, and she could swear it was trying to freeze her soul.

She hadn't told anyone about this because she knew exactly what they would say they would say. "Oh Judy, you just need to move on," or "oh Judy, you'll get over him," and "you've just got to find someone else to replace him."

"find someone else." As if she hadn't already tried that.

Over the last nine months she'd had a good dozen different attempts to find someone else. None of them worked out. Sometimes they were just assholes, other times they were intolerably speciesist. Most times, she just didn't feel anything around them. With Nick, she felt complete, she felt whole. When around the other guys she felt the hole in her heart get bigger and bigger. So most times they didn't even make it to her apartment.

There was one time where she almost felt a spark with one of them. Another bunny by the name of Jack. For the first time in ages, she'd felt that she could be wholly herself again. Halfway through a date with him at some restaurant or another, when Judy returned from a short trip to the restroom, she found Jack making advances on another bunny. She had given up after that point, choosing to stay alone rather than torment herself with more

Judy sat there in the warm darkness, feeling as though her heart was turning to ice. She lay there with her paws covering her face as she sobbed her life away. When sleep finally took her, one final thought passed through her head, one thought that would plague her constantly from then on.

"Are you still in there, Nick? Are we too late to save you?"


	4. Chapter 4

The night was not a pleasant one for Judy. Despite having a good three or four blankets surrounding her sleeping form her insides were still cold as ice. Her dreams weren't much better either. Nick was strapped to a table while animals crowded around him with all sorts of torture devices: knives, hammers, strangely curved blades and white-hot metal rods, along with other instruments of pain.

Every time they struck him, he would look her in the eyes with an accusing look as if to say, "this is your fault." Those dreams she remembered very clearly, for they happened the most often. She had other nightmares but she didn't remember them very well thankfully. There was only one other that she remembered relatively clearly but she wished she didn't. She didn't remember much about that particular one but she remembers one detail about it: She sat on the ground, bright and dark red blood surrounding her and the red furred, lifeless form in her arms.

Judy had bolted upright in the early morning after that one and immediately started to cry. Or at least she tried to, she'd cried herself dry the previous night. She instead breathed in and out slowly in an attempt to calm herself. She was still trying to calm down long after the sun reached its peak.

Once she was calm, all she could bring herself to do was sit in her bed. She was too awake from the adrenaline rush of flight-or-fight to go back to sleep, but she wasn't awake enough to actually do anything. She was jolted out of her depressed stupor when her phone suddenly rang. She ignored it, rolling over so that her back was to the phone.

The phone rang again.

And again.

And again.

On the fifth ring she lunged towards her phone in rage to see just who it was that was annoying her. It was Bogo. He had sent five text messages all stating that she calls him as soon as possible but also have a pen and paper handy. She was tempted to ignore the order as well until she read the fifth message.

"We have an update on Wilde; you'll want to hear this."

Judy stared at the screen of her phone for what seemed like forever, trying to process what it said as fast as possible. Until she was fumbling her way to call the chief back as fast as she could. Before pushing the call button however, she thought better of it and instead called the station. It rang for a couple of seconds before a high pitched but at the same time low voice responded: Clawhouser.

"Thank you for calling the ZPD my name is..."

"CLAWHOUSER!" She practically screamed into her phone as she sat on the edge of her bed trembling slightly.

There was a loud *CLACK* as he had probably dropped the phone thanks to Judy's loud response. There were a few more noises on the other end until Clawhouser familiar voice came on.

"Judy? Is that you? What can I do for-" She didn't let him finish.

"Clawhouser put me through to Bogo now." After a moment she remembered that manners existed "please," she added quietly and sorrowfully.

"right away Juju" he said, and then after a short pause, "you can talk to me if you need to Judy."

before she could respond she heard a click. Then a couple of seconds later she heard the Chiefs familiar, low, gravelly voice.

"Hopps!" In a surprisingly cheerful voice "I was wondering when you'd call was getting kind of worried to be honest. That is I'll have to tell you this info tomorrow."

"With all due respect sir I'm here now so could you... Ya know, get on with it?" She said with a nervous tone.

"Listen Hopps before I continue I suggest that you get some paper and something to write with"

"One second sir" she went to the kitchen practically running on the way and found some paper and a pen.

"you ready Hopps?"

"Ready sir" she said with determination in her heart. If Nick was in trouble she shouldn't just be sitting around she had to do something.

After almost four whole years while working at the ZPD Judy knew one thing: they were effective. Yet even with this knowledge she was surprised at the amount of work they accomplished in just a single day.

Bogo had personally led a raid on the compound where Judy had seen the show with Nick. Upon reaching there however they discovered that the place was empty no sign of anyone being there except quite a few blood stains. So they worked with what little resources they had. They had done a thorough sweep of the area and had gotten as much information as possible. They even asked a few of the homeless people nearby and got a few descriptions of some animals who might've worked there. Apparently some of those descriptions were actuate because they had already captured three suspects two of which were spilling everything without even needing to be asked a single question.

"All they've said so far is the basic stuff; where they were recruited, who recruited them etc. We believe that the third one knows what we need, therefore were focusing on him right now" he was explaining. "I'll have a full report for you tomorrow Hopps, don't worry we'll find him within the month." With that he hung up.

Judy sat there processed the new information her boss had just given her and with a new determined look on her face she pulled out a new sheet of paper and started to write down any question that came to mind that she would ask the suspects. Nick was being held prisoner, he was likely in pain daily, he was in serious trouble. If there was a time when he needed her, it was now. So she wasn't going to sit on her ass and let someone else find him. If anyone was going to find and rescue her fox it was going to be HER.

A good two hours later she set her pencil down and looked over at the stacks of paper filled with questions. Some were relevant to her task some were completely on the other side of the world. Ranging from: what's your favorite movie, what time do you usually go to bed, what's your favorite meal and so on. She looked over at her clock and it read: 7:56 PM.

Judy decided it would be best to get some food in her before going to bed so she cooked up some grub and sat down on the table right outside the kitchen. After finishing her meal, cleaning up after herself and making sure that the place was nice and neat and secure before heading off to bed.

The time was 9:35 PM when she crawled into bed. She was hoping to fall asleep quickly before the coldness took over, but after laying there for what she guessed was fifteen or twenty minutes she felt no coldness. At least, not the amount of cold she was expecting. She had expected an iceberg to ram into her heart, but instead she could barely feel the cold. Instead it was replaced with something warm. It was nice, Like the feeling she got back when Nick was around; the feeling she'd been lacking all this time.

She realized that that feeling was most likely hope. Hope that one day soon she'll be able to see her fox again. She'd be able to look into his beautiful emerald eyes, to talk to him about whatever she felt like talking about and have him respond in kind, to feel his rough yet silky fur against her own and see his signature grin plastered on that smug muzzle of his. But most of all to be able to see him alive and safe, to know he was okay.

"Haha" she quietly laughed to herself "by the end of the month? When I get back it'll be more like the end of the week"

The last thing she remembered before passing out again was a question. A question she didn't want to dwell on:

"does he love me too?"


	5. Chapter 5

5:00 AM: nothing to report

Judy woke thirty minutes earlier than usual. She usually got up when her alarm went off at 5:30. Without giving her a chance to feel her tiredness, she leaped out of her bed and went to get her police uniform. reaching for it she hesitated, eh why not. Instead of reaching for the uniform she reached and grabbed her running clothes.

6:00 AM: nothing to report

Judy breathed hard through her nose as she drank the cold glass of water, feeling quite satisfied as she felt the ice cold liquid flow down her throat. Setting the glass down she thought back to the run she just finished.

It had taken her about an hour to finish her run, and she had spent most of the run thinking about Nick. She had tried to keep thinking positive, but like ants to food the negative thoughts kept on coming back.

Was Nick alright? Was he hurt? How hurt was he? WHERE was he? But out of all these questions and more there were two questions that really bugged Judy.

Is he still alive? If he was, does he love her?

They had stuck with her since, like a pair of flies she couldn't swat for the life of her. She shook her head placing the glass in the sink and moving over to her dresser. Picking up her uniform she glanced at her clock 6:15 AM said. She still had time, she then quickly went to finish getting ready for work.

6:50 AM: nothing to report

Judy tried to smile as she made her way to the precinct but ultimately failed. She was having bad thoughts again but they weren't about Nick specifically, they were about the suspects Bogo and the others captured yesterday. Bogo had said he'd have a full report done by the time she got to work, right? Even though she knew that when Bogo said things like that he kept his word, she worried that it wouldn't contain exactly what she was hoping for.

She worried that these suspect were just the grunts of the organization. The ones that knew just enough to be useful but at the same time little enough about what they knew to be infuriating. She managed to banish the thought for now as she opened the front door of the predict office.

Clawhouser, was in his usual spot with a bowl of cereal in his paws and a box of doughnuts right beside him along with two cups of steaming coffee. Judy immediately felt depression kick in. The last time Clawhouser had saved two cups of coffee was the day Nick officially went missing why would he do this to her, he couldn't be saving it for someone else for her and Nick were always the last of first shift to tried to hide her newfound depression from Clawhouser. Not wanting to have this kind of discussion with her cheetah friend.

She failed miserably.

"You need to talk about it Judes?" He asked in a very concerned tone.

Sometimes she hated how easy it was to read her more than anything.

With an exasperated sigh she jumped onto the desk grabbed the coffe and took a sip. "I don't really want to talk about it Clawhouser," she said, taking another sip. They both knew what "it" was.

"Are you su-" he tried to speak but Judy cut him off.

"I said no! Clawhouser I don't want to dwell on it anymore. I've done enough of that already and I know I'm going to be doing more of it in the near future! So NO THANK YOU!" Her voice grew louder and louder as she went on until she was practically shouting.

He instantly pulled back from the sudden outburst from the small bunny. His eyes dropped, body language suggesting that he was more closed now than open and his ears drooped back against his head.

Seeing this Judy sighed, reached down and pulled the cereal bowl out of her friends paws and setting it on the table. "Ben" she said flatly "I'm sorry. But I thought about him all day yesterday and I know The same is gonna happen today and..." She tried to figure out how to put it but the words never came to mind.

"It's okay Judy I understand. You don't have to talk about him if you don't want to," he said, shifting so that he was now facing his computer. He started typing away at it, obviously clocking her in for the day.

"No you don't," she thought bitterly. "you don't get it, no one does"

After a few minutes of the two of them just sitting there Judy sighed slightly giving in "I miss him" she whispered "if I wasn't obvious enough"

She turned her head sharply in rage at the cheetah when he gave a little giggle of joy at her little confession. "Seeing me in pain is entertaining?!" She hissed at him.

Seeing this Clawhouser's smile immediately went away. Then he looked back at his computer at it returned as he glanced back at her. "That's right" in an understanding tone "you weren't here yesterday so you don't know..."

"I already know about the suspects, Ben and I also know that we haven't gotten much from them so far."

"I already knew that you knew silly" he said getting back into his usual cheerful self " but Bogo told you what we had before he personally went down to... I'm gonna say 'nicely ask them' to answer his questions," he finished with a wide-toothed smile.

"What are you getting at Ben?"

he opened his mouth but before he could utter a single sound a bell rang sounding that it was time for the morning briefing.

"Guess your gonna hear it from the big guy himself" Clawhouser said jabbing his thick thumb behind him towards the briefing room.

7:15 AM: nothing to report

judy sat in the chair in the front row attempting to patiently wait for the chief to start the briefing. She also tried to ignore the concerned looks and small talk from the other officers in the room.

"You think she's gonna take it well?"

"I wonder how hard it's gonna hit her"

One conversation caught her attention

"you think she's doing alright?" Said Fangmeyer

"alright? Yeah if finding out that your best and only friend is a mindless killer then yeah she's totally fine," she didn't know the name of the wolf he was talking to but even the thought of wolford getting jealous at his mate talking to another male wolf couldn't cheer her up at the moment.

Before any of the other conversations about her and Nick could continue, the door to the side opened revealing the chief and his almost permanent scowl. Before any of the animals could do their usual shouts and grunts of excitement the chief raised his left paw, silencing any and every sound in the room.

"Please everyone, no horseplay today. We have some serious work ahead of us, more serious than usual." He walked over to his podium and placed his files on his and opened the first page. He skimmed over the material and a smile spread across his face as he continued to read. Once done he raised his head and looked at each of them in the eye one at a time, finially settling on Judy.

"Today," he said in the most excruciating, painfully calm tone of voice as if announcements like this were just an everyday thing, "today, we're going to go rescue a certain fox."


	6. Chapter 6

The morning briefing went by fast. probably because Judy was too entranced by the words Bogo was saying. He was explaining the new information that he had managed to pull out of all the criminals, even the ones he thought wouldn't break.

The information was simple enough; the criminals claimed that once they had gotten word that Max had been captured, they had immediately started to clear out the warehouse. He also found out some new information about this organization. They called themselves "The Brawlers", since they specialized in underground fighting rings, with some illegal performance enhancers and fur trafficking on the side. The Brawlers also tended to work out of a singular location.

Bogo had promised the head animal that he and all of his comrades would be classified as "witnesses" and not key suspects, though he did admit that he was still trying to figure that part out. In return the head animal had given them everything he knew, which was way more than anyone had expected. He had said that he was scheduled to be returning today with a new shipment of one of their combat enhancing drugs. Once he had told them where the shipment was supposed to be delivered, Bogo had sent a team to clean the area up. He also gave them directions to The Brawlers new HQ, which is where they'd been holding all their captives, drugs and alcohol. They apparently do not have many thugs with them, people there purely to protect the "merchandise".

According to the leader and a couple of other suspects the new HQ was located in the center of Tundratown, which was not good for any captives the Brawlers were holding there.

Judy perked up to her full height and then some when the chief ended the briefing, saying, "now I know this is sudden but I'm going to need every animal I can spare on this. Their shipment isn't expected to arrive till around noon, so we don't have a lot of time to prepare. So I want every single animal who isn't patrolling today to head down to the armory, not only are we taking down a major criminal organization..." He looked towards Judy for his last statement "we're getting a fellow officer back. NOW MOVE OUT!"

Every animal moved as quickly as they could with out trampling each other and one at a time exited via the single door at the back.

Before Judy made her way there though she walked up to Bogo and whispered, "Thank you sir."

"don't thank me yet Hopps, thank me when he's safe and stable in the nearest hospital you hear me?"

"yes sir!" She said saluting, feeling a growing bubble of hope build in the spot where Nick was and will be again she'll make sure of it.

"good! Now GET MOVING!"

She turned and ran as fast as she could towards the armory and broad smile plastered on her face the whole way.

11:00 AM: nothing to report

The problem, Judy realized with being one of the fastest animals on the force and being the first to completely put on her SWAT suit was boredom. She shouldn't be bored -she was finally on her way to breaking Nick free from what ever torment he was currently in.

She watched with serious impatience as more and more animals in SWAT suits entered the precinct garage, where they would go over the plan of attack. The room was near overcrowded with the amount of big and small animals in the large room ranging from elephants and rhinos to wolves and... Well her, a bunny. Several more animals arrived some in full riot gear others in full SWAT gear.

She glanced down at her own SWAT suit. When making her way to the armory she hadn't even thought about the possibility of them not even having a suit in her size, luckily they had made a specialized suite just for her. It was damned heavy though, if it wasn't for all her years working out and the past three years of police work she'd never have been able to even stand up in this thing, much less be involved in a raid.

There had to be a good fifty armored animals in the room and almost all of them were talking about one thing or another. Some were talking about the differences between two guns, other which area of the body were more important to cover with bullet proof armor. Most though we're talking about the raid and what would come out of it if it was as successful as Bogo claimed it would be.

Some were talking about this in broad terms like how it would affect the criminal underground. Some said in a minor way others in a major way but a very few said that it would completely undermine it, those were suppressed and disprove almost as soon as they came up. Then there were the ones who were a little more specific about the topic. Some about the drugs others about the prisoners they kept. Then there were the ones that also talked about the prisoners.

She tried to ignore any comments made about Nick. Comments ranged from dumbfounded questions about his survival to speculation of what he'd be like once he was rescued. The effects of the trauma he was bound to have endured -both physical and mental- and how he would cope and move on from it all. If Nick could cope with it, that is.

The conversations continued for a few more minutes until the chief walked up to the computer screen. Once up there, all conversation very quickly died.

"Today" he started, his gaze sweeping over every officer gathered before him, "we not only put a serious dent in the criminal underground, put an end to drug and animal trafficking but also" he stood up straight, paws clasped behind his back and a very determined expression on his face as he gazed at the assembled assault force. "Today we regain a fellow officer who has been with these bastards for a year now. An officer who many of you know well, others not so much, but he's still and officer of the law, a comrade, a brother in arms and I will not stand with him having to endure another day of torment from these criminals. You hear me?!" His ending statement was a yell and the assembled animals roared in agreement demanding justice for their comrade.

Judy's paws tightened into fists as Bogo continued. "First: since they're already expecting a shipment at noon, were going to have some of our hard hitters in the bus with the head suspect. Members will include: Mchorn, Francie, Fangmeyer, Wolford, Grizzoli, Trunkaby, Johnson, Delgato, and Hopps." He finished glancing up to scan the crowd spotting something he didn't like he pointed it out. "Is there a problem officer Rowley?"

"uhhhh sir I mean no disrespect but don't you think it'd be a better choice to... I don't know... Not have Hopps involved in the raid? I mean she's a bunny and all. She'll do more damage to us and herself than to them." Rowley said looking to the animals around his for support. None came.

"First off," Bogo said taking off his spectacles and giving the officer a death glare, "after this Rowley, parking duty three months" Rowley's jaw dropped and before he could argue with the chief he continued on "second, Hopps was gonna be in that truck whether I allowed it or not I'm doing this just to spare muse some extra paperwork," he said glancing at Judy and placing his spectacles back on his snout "and three: there's no doubt in my mind that Hopps could knock you out faster than she did Mchorn in practice last week." He finished referencing the one time she had practiced with Mchorn where she knocked him out in less that fifteen seconds.

Rowley tried to speak but with a quick glance to the animals around him and the chief he decided that it would be best if he kept his mouth shut.

"Moving on," Bogo continued, "once inside the strike team will ready before they can open the bus however we'll fill the room with knock out gas so remember to have your masks on. From what we've managed to gather so far they're mainly prey animals but that doesn't meant that they're not dangerous. Do not underestimate them. Once we have the main room we'll fan out through the rest of the building in small squads." He then went on about the different squads and who was in them and the leader of each squad. Judy's squad was tasked with securing the captives.

"Now remember," the chief went on as the SWAT vans pulled up along with the decoy bus where Judy would be placed, "these animals are armed and dangerous with or without a weapon. If you find yourself in close quarters combat make sure you have a friend backing you up. I don't plan on filing any deceased forms, you hear me?!" The assembled animals nodded their collective heads and some murmured as well. "Good! Now get going we're on the clock and there's not a lot of time left so let's move it people!" he roared pointing behind him towards the trucks and all the animals made their way in each truck.

On the way each animal was given a weapon specialized for them. Judy only got a small mp7 she wouldn't complain she just wished she could have gotten a bigger one. Once in the truck and on the way to its destination she thought again on what was about to happen and who she was going to set free.

The fox collapsed to the ground, eyelids barely staying open as he tried to remain conscious. He had to have been bleeding from over a dozen different cuts in his skin. His legs were on fire from the pain but then again so was the rest of his body. He just laid there unable to move because of the pain it probably almost looked as if he was playing dead.

Not that he was far away.

"Ohhh you think I'm done with you fox?!" A voice said above him. Unable to move the fox just lay there, until a paw grabbed him by a shoulder and hoisted him up, where another went and grabbed his throat. His eyelids were barely open but he could still make out the Grey fur and enraged face of Hawkins.

This wasn't the everyday beating the fox knew. How could he not he distinctly remember the reason that had caused this beating to happen in the first place. He remembered how good it had felt to slice jimmys warm throat, how good he had felt when his cries of pain slowly died with him choking on his own blood. Jimmy's corpse was still there the fox knew Hawkins had dragged it to the far corner.

"He may be gone" Hawkins had said "but i want him in here so he can watch you die."

Back to the present Hawkins threw the fox to the ground and walked over to the furnace. Where a couple white hot rods were stuck into it. He pulled on a protective glove and grabbed one. He then walked back over to the fox who hadn't moved from where Hawkins had thrown him. He then proceeded to beat him with the rod, both with blows and with the occasional stinging pain as he just held the rod against the fox. In the middle of all of the blows the fox looked up at the bigger wolf and smiled and for the first time in a long time he spoke.

His voice was raspy and could barely pronounce the words but he managed. "Y-you wanna know the b-best part about all t-this Hawkins?"

Hawkins squinted his eyes "what's that fox?"

"jimmy deserved to die. The worthless runt barely lasted ten seconds. If he was the alpha in your relationship... Then what does that make you?" The fox laughed quietly at the intense rage that came over Hawkins face "what does that make you Hawkins? The runt's bitch, how comedic." He coughed as he laughed to hard straining his stomach muscles.

The continued to laugh softly even as Hawkins grabbed him by his arms, and put them in chains connected to the ceiling. With the fox still chuckling and hanging from chains attached to the ceiling, Hawkins went back to the furnace and grabbed the other rod. He grabbed a knife on the way back. Now with rod in one paw and a knife in the other the wolf continued to beat the helpless fox.

Silently, he fox still laughed. Not at the insult he made but with the fact that he was about to die. That excited him more than freedom did.

1:30 PM: nothing to report

Judy rammed the butt end of her rifle into the side of a pig's head, knocking him out cold. That was the fourth cell that didn't contain Nick, and she was starting to worry. She looked down at her map and made an *X* sign at the cell her team was currently at marking it as cleared.

As they passed another set of cell doors she passed a door and signaled two of her team to check it while her and the other checked another. The first set up for entering and one used a police style ram to smash down the door. They quickly made their way inside and almost immediately shouting came from inside that cell. It wasn't the voice that made Judy froze it was what he was saying that stunned her.

"NO LET ME GO IM NOT DONE WITH HIM YET! LET ME GO IM GOING TO KILL THAT FOOOX!" One of her team members dragged out a screaming wolf who was frantically trying to get them to release him so he could go back inside. Ignoring the look of concern from her other two comrades she slowly made her way to the open door.

And there he was. Hanging from the ceiling by chains and completely limp. Judy took off her helmet and dropped it to the ground, she couldn't believe the state he was in. Cuts and bruises all over his body singed and burned fur covered the majority of his body and she was pretty sure that fox legs weren't supposed to bend the way his left leg did.

"N-Nick?" She quietly asked as she slowly crossed the room. She could faintly hear her comrades behind her calling in an ambulance. "Nick can you hear me? It's me Nick, it's Judy its your carrots!" She started to cry wanting something to prove that he was still alive. "Nick please! Show me that your still alive!"

"N-Nick?"

she froze. That was his voice no doubt but she didn't like that tone. It sounded like he didn't know his own name. Nick slowly raised his head, his eyes closed because of the light behind Judy.

"Who's n-Nick?" He opened his eyes.

emerald met amethyst in the dark room.

1:35 PM: contact


	7. Chapter 7

Browsing the Internet, fiddling with her uniform, trying to find the appetite to eat something, nothing worked. Nothing Judy tried helped her calm down and relieve her tension and anxiety. The best thing she could find to help her with her growing emotions was to pace back and forth in the surgical wing's waiting room.

She wasn't alone of course; she was accompanied by some of her and Nick's friends; Francie, Fangmeyer, Wolford, Grizzoli and Delgato. Bogo was also there but only as an excuse to avoid the press for a little while longer.

As she slowly paced, her mind rattled off questions at rapid-fire speed. Was Nick going to be alright? How extensive were his injuries? How much did he remember?

What if he didn't remember...

Out of all the possibilities, this one horrified her to no end. She didn't know what she'd do if Nick didn't remember her. Thinking of this question made Judy think back to when she first saw him. hanging from chains, covered in burns and bruises, and bleeding from more wounds than she could count.

Then there was the fact he didn't seem to remember his own name. Judy wanted to believe with every fiber of her being that Nick was just playing some cruel prank on her, but the look in his eyes had told her otherwise. The confusion, the lack of recognition; it terrified her to no end.

She kept pacing as her thoughts went haywire. If she stopped now, she might shut down entirely. She didn't want that, didn't want Nick to see her like that after two years apart, so she kept pacing.

Despite the constant activity, she felt cold, like ice had formed in her stomach and started creeping up into her chest. The pacing helped. It gave her something to focus on that wasn't the clock. She gave it a glance; 5:37. Nick had been in surgery for what felt like way too long.

When the doors to the waiting room opened to an exhausted wolf in medical scrubs, Judy found herself stuck in place. The doctor quickly made her way to Bogo.

"Chief," she said in a soft tone, "I have a report about your officer."

Bogo nodded and got up to follow the doctor. When he passed Judy, he motioned for her to follow. She managed to make her legs move and followed. Noticing this, the doctor shot Bogo a worried look.

"If I hear this then so does Hopps." Bogo said in a straightforward tone.

The doctor just looked at Judy and then shrugged. "Whatever you say chief," she said looking through her documents. "Well I've got good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" Bogo asked for the good news

The doctor nodded and shuffled her papers "well first off I'm almost certain that he'll will live" she let the statement hang in the air and when she didn't get an immediate response they looked up.

Judy's eyes widened in worry and Bogo gave her a flat stare. "Last time I checked" Bogo said through gritted teeth "'almost certain' isn't exactly what I would call good news."

The doctor shrugged, "well sorry chief but I'm the optimistic one out of the bunch that worked on that fox; they damn near thought he was done for."

Bogo took a deep breath and asked, "so then what makes you 'almost certain' that he'll make it?"

"From what I can gather of what he went through these past nine months, he's certainly got a will to live. If he was able to survive through that then he'll be able to survive this." She paused glancing at Judy. "And well," the doctor sighed, "along with stabilizing his vitals we hooked him up to an automated air feeder along with positioning his limbs so that they will heal properly and without much pain," she said placing a couple of sheets on a nearby table. "That's about it for the good news."

"Very well," Bogo said giving Judy a concerned look, "you sure you want to be here for this Hopps?"

Judy gave him a defiant look. "I'm staying," she said curtly.

Bogo nodded. "Very well." He turned toward the doctor. "Continue please."

The doctor didn't waste any time. "In our first sweep of officer wilde's body we found multiple areas of scarring indicating repeated, long-term binding," when she saw that the two understood her she continued, "now most of them are quite common when it comes to torture. busies around the wrists and ankles but also around the rest of the body, the most disturbing one is the one around his neck." She lowered her paper to check and see if the two were following. satisfied, she continued, "from what I have been able to gather comparing this one to the others..." She hesitated.

"Go on doctor," Bogo insisted.

She took a deep breath before continuing, "the bruise around his neck looks... self-inflicted."

"You mean to say" Bogo said slowly, "that Wilde attempted to kill himself?"

"I'm only reporting what we found when treating him chief."

Bogo grumbled at this but Judy was having a different reaction. self-inflicted? No, it couldn't be; Nick wouldn't do that.

"Besides that he has suffered dozens of cuts and bruises of various size and severity." She flipped the page, "along with the cuts and bruises, he has suffered second and third degree burns."

Judy shivered remembering the metal rods that had been in the corner of nicks little chamber. She looked back up at the doctor.

"How much damage did these burns do?"

"Well," the doctor said hesitantly, "most of the burns are relatively minor, and the skin will heal fine, but..." She trailed off again.

"but... What?" Judy asked, she noticed that the chief had taken a step back letting her do all the questioning. She made a mental note to thank him later.

"Some of the burns are much more severe. There's going to be some scarring, and the fur won't grow back." She shuffled a few papers before continuing, "we also found several substances in his system; one of the most worrisome is Midnicampum Holicithias."

"night howlers," Judy whispered.

"as far as we can tell" the doctor continued "he was only given small dosages of the drug. We also found traces of cocaine, THC, and mescaline."

"what's... that one?" Judy asked.

"Mescaline?" the doctor asked, "well to put it short, if injected it can cause hallucinations, loss of time, disorientation, headaches, vomiting, and insomnia."

Judy shivered at hearing all of this. "Oh nick," she thought as the doctor led her and Bogo to the waiting room. "My poor fox, what did they do to you? How much did they break you?"

"Along with that," the doctor continued, "we found an inflammatory substance in his system. We're not entirely certain of what it does, but it seems to have been made to stimulate pain in existing wounds." She finally placed the last of her paper down. "That's the end of my report chief, anything you want me to look out for?"

"Nothing that comes to mind, thank you doctor." She sniffed and walked back the way they had come.

Once Judy and Bogo were back in the waiting room and the doctor had disappeared into the double doors of the surgical wing, Bogo sighed, "well I guess I've kept the press waiting long enough." Before Judy could say something, he said, "don't worry Hopps I won't tell them that its wilde yet, I know once I spill that bit of info you won't have a single second alone. so I'll try and stall as long as I can." He gave her an awkward pat on the shoulder. "You want to be alone?" She nodded. "Very well," Bogo said, turning toward the small crowd of officers. "Remember," he said in his usual commanding voice, "keep this matter on the down low. I don't want news of Wilde's rescue on the media yet understood?" The gathered officers nodded and they all gave Judy encouraging looks as they left behind the chief.

With the news she just received, Judy was afraid that her legs would give out so she went over to a chair and sat down. Pretty soon however, she felt the fatigue of the day crash down on her and she quickly found her eyes slowly closing, until she was fast asleep. sometime later -Judy didn't know how long- she was awoken by a hand on her shoulder.

"Mrs. Hopps?" a voice said.

Judy looked up through groggily eyes. "Yes?"

it was a seal; a nurse, judging from the scrubs he wore. "Visiting hours are over Mrs. Hopps."

"I'm not leaving," she stubbornly and groggily muttered.

A smile suddenly broke out across the seal's face. "The chief thought you might say that, so he authorized this," he said handing her a piece of paper. it said that Judy was to be Nick's personal body guard until he fully recovered. "Would you like to see him?" the seal asked.

"Yes," she said automatically, before the question fully registered.

"Please come this way." She followed him through the double doors.

after a series of twist and turns later he finally stopped a door numbered A113. "This is it?" Judy asked looking up at the seal. he nodded and gestured for her to enter. She didn't know what to expect when she walked through the doorway, but whatever it was it wasn't what she saw.

Nick sat their eyes closed, head gently resting against the pillow. His arms hung above him on either side and he was practically covered from head to toe with bandages. Even most his face was covered. He was hooked up to a breathing machine, the tube going down his throat. Judy quickly took the singular chair from the corner of the room and brought it over to Nick's left side.

"He looks so peaceful," Judy thought, "I wonder if he's dreaming of something." She continued to think as she reached a paw out to caress the left side of his face. "I wonder if he's dreaming of me." She continued to stroke his fur. "Oh nick, my poor poor nick all of this is my fault," she started to cry, "if I hadn't asked you to pick me up all those months ago, none of this would've happened." She ignored the tears that streamed down her cheeks focusing on caressing him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I'm sorry you went through so much pain because of me Nick." She started to feel her body drifting off to sleep once again. "I hope that one day I'll be able to make it up to you," she said scooting her chair over so that she could rest her head on his chest. "My dumb fox," she whispered and drifted into sleep.

authors note: okay, look I know your all angry at the delay and please try and restrain yourselves from lynching me until I'm finished here okay?

well now I guess your primary question about this chapter is "what the hell took so long?" well the thing is I technically finished it weeks ago my excuse is that when I sent it to my editor that very day some serious personal shit started to go down and to those of you who also write and had personal shit go down in your life you know that trying to write while some personal stuff's going down is not easy

anyway once again I'm gonna have to say that CH 8 is going to take a while purely because I have to update my other two stories one of which is currently killing me emotionally wanna read it or just want to know what it is click on my profile and look for the savagehopps one

yes I said it. _**savagehopps**_


End file.
